


whispering into the night

by pherion



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, M/M, Oblivious Hinata Shouyou, Oblivious Kozume Kenma, Q&A Sessions, Soft Boys, gamer!Kenma, i guess?, kodzuken, normal!hinata, oh yes it's there, shenanigens, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:41:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22914151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pherion/pseuds/pherion
Summary: “Hey!” Kenma called to him, before he could walk away completely. “It’s dangerous to go alone. Take this.”What did Kenma get himself into? His fans (but mostly Tetsurou) wanted him to cosplay Link from Zelda. He did not mean to pick up the sun. And give his number to said sun.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kozume Kenma
Comments: 46
Kudos: 229





	1. phone number

**Author's Note:**

> this story will consist of eight (short) chapters and will be updated every two days :)
> 
> update 3/20. unfortunately i won't be able to upload the last two chapters any time soon. yes schools are closed in my country. but i'm a teacher and i have it busier than ever with making online material ready etc. i do hope i can upload soon as i have the outlines etc ready! stay safe everyone.
> 
> update 3/28 welp updated chapt 7 last night. don’t know when the final chapter is going to be out but the outline is there !!
> 
> update 3/30 FINALY CHAPTER FINALLY
> 
> update 4/1 thank you for the 100+ kudos! 
> 
> update 4/2 i'm so grateful for the 1k+ hits!!!! this is one of my most favorite fics i've ever worked on

— one: phone number —

“This was the worst decision ever and I officially hate you, Kuroo Tetsurou.”

“When that camera turns on we all know you start liking it so get over it, dwarf.”

“Right. So, let’s get it over with. Are the camera settings still the same?”

“Yup.”

“Alright.” Kozume Kenma fixes his wig in the window reflection. “Ready when you are.”

Kenma breaths in once more and in the reflection of his phone he is checking if his hair isn’t messed up for the very last time. He gives Tetsurou a thumbs up. “Let’s go.” He breaths out.

Tetsurou gives him a three-two-one count down with his fingers and Kenma shows a soft smile the camera. “Hello everybody, this is Kodzuken and welcome back to one of my videos.” For the last time he is contemplating whether or not he should still go on with this ridiculous idea. But the fans voted for it, and that is something that he did these days to get some fan input. “Yes, it’s me, Kodzuken, I might not look like it today, but per your demands I am,” he takes in a small breath and suppresses a chuckle, “cosplaying as Link today and going out to strangers to prank them. With my friend Kuroo, who you’re all familiar with, behind the camera,” Tetsurou, moving the camera towards him, gives a small wave into it, “as my moral support and the genius behind the poll, we’re going to do this.”

He didn’t tweet about his whereabouts for today, because he didn’t want a mob of people to follow him. That would have been too much of hassle. 

Yeah. Nope.

Having pulled four pranks after pranks, they finally decide to take a break. Kenma, of course, is not really a people person. So, a break was quickly decided on. Tetsurou ordered them a coffee—he liked them black nowadays—while Kenma took a soda. 

And then it happens. As soon as he takes his first sip he hears it.

“Uwoohh!!!” 

Kenma nearly chokes on his soda from the weird sound coming from somewhere around the two of them. Tetsurou, too, looks up and then at Kenma.

“Uwoh?” Tetsurou repeats. “What the fuck was that?”

Kenma is looking around but isn’t seeing anything obvious. He shrugs it off and and is about to take another sip before hearing the stomping of feet coming closer and closer. He puts his coffee down and looks into his cup.

“This is the best Link cosplay I’ve ever seen, oh my god!!!” Kenma looks up after a few seconds, after feeling something radiate around him. 

“Who?” Kenma squints, not really being able to see that well against the sun.

“Yours!!!” 

After blinking a few times and Tetsurou eyeing the person in an odd way, the sun dims a little and the person who spoke sat down at their table. 

“You’re Link cosplay is so amazing! Gosh, this is probably what it would look like if Link would ever really-really talk, you know!”

Kenma doesn’t even have the time to speak or reply, because the boy doesn’t stop talking.

“This is really amazing, wow this if the most amazing cosplay I’ve ever seen in my entire life. How did you make the clothes? Did you make them yourself? The wig, too! Looks so soft, wow, I want to touch it. Can I touch it? No, wait. That would be too weird. Oh my goodness, I am so impressed. Have I told you how impressed I am? This is crazy. I like this so much.” 

“Dude! Do you have a mute button or something?” Tetsurou cuts in, and Kenma notices Tetsurou is kind of confused and weirded out at the same time.

The boy looks taken aback. “I…” he starts.

Kenma has to suppress a smile. “Thanks,” he says to comfort the boy, ignoring Tetsurou’s previous made comment. 

The boy, in return, gives Kenma the biggest smile he had ever seen before. Something was stopping around them and Kenma doesn’t really realize it happening, but leave it to Tetsurou to kick him in the shins and bring him back to Earth. “Ouch,” he expresses softly, sending Tetsurou angry glares. “Meanie,” he whispers. 

“So, uhm, this is super cool. Wow. Gosh, what is your Instagram handle, do you do more of these things or is this your first time? Because that would be crazy. Let me tell you, crazy! And you look so good in it, too! Amazing.”

“Dude, breathe,” Tetsurou starts laughing loudly, shocking the boy a little bit. “Your lung capacity is astonishing.”

The boy is laughing too, putting one of his hands behind his head. “Sorry,” he says, sheepishly.

‘ _Cute_ ’ is all what strikes Kenma’s thoughts at the moment.

“I do have an Instagram, but I don’t really post cosplay on it, though.” He eyes the boy from underneath his lashes.

Before Kenma is able to elaborate on what he does do, the boy interrupts him. “Oh, that’s okay. This is already super impressive. I haven’t really played a lot of Zelda games, but who doesn’t know Link.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Kenma nods in response. 

“This is so cool,” he repeats once more. The boy is completely in awe by Kenma’s cosplay, and Kenma can see Tetsurou enjoying every single second of it.

“Do you want to take a picture with him?” Tetsurou butts in. 

“Tetsurou!” Kenma bites.

“Oh!” the boy yells before Kenma can say anything else. “ Can I? I’d love to!” 

“Yeah, kid, of course! Give me your phone and I’ll take one of the two of you together.” Tetsurou grins widely at Kenma as he holds out his hand for the boy to give him his phone, not leaving Kenma’s eyes at all. 

“So cool,” the boy whispers under his breath as he comes near Kenma, standing awkwardly next to him.

“Relax a little, kid!”

“You like cosplay a lot?” Kenma mumbles the question to him, while Tetsurou is taking a picture or two of the duo. Kenma takes a sip of his soda and sits back down.

The boy nods fast. “A lot! I’ve never done anything myself, and I find it totally awesome when someone actually does cosplay and all the effort they put into it is so fascinating. I wish I had that power and knowledge to do so.” 

Were his eyes sparkling? Kenma shakes his head quickly, but not too noticeable of course. Tetsurou should never notice Kenma experiencing little feelings like this or whatsoever. No, absolutely not. The boy is definitely not sparkling—his eyes were, he means.

“Well, Kenma didn’t really make this himself either. In reality I helped him, a lot.” Tetsurou grins and eyes Kenma, who, in return, glares right back at him, and giving him a deja-vu and kicking him back in the in shins. “Ouch!”

Kenma casts another glance at the boy—whose name he still doesn’t know but really wanted to know. Should he go out and ask him or should he let it slide? He could really go and hit himself, that would be the better decision than anything. He’s hitting his imaginary head right now.

“Well, I gotta go,” the boy says, looking sad to be leaving. “But it was really nice meeting you! Good luck with the rest of your does and maybe I’ll see more of it.” He gets up and Kenma follows him with his eyes. His orange hair really does stand out nicely against the sun. 

“Yeah, nice meeting you,” Tetsurou says, speaking for the both of them. 

The boy smiles widely and Kenma feels his heartbeat through his ribs. Quickly, without thinking, he grabs a paper out of his backpack and a pen and scribbles something down on the piece of paper.

“Hey!” Kenma called to him, before he could walk away completely. “It’s dangerous to go alone. Take this.” 

The boy looked confused for a second but walked back after seeing Kenma nudge something in his direction. 

A paper. 

Kenma pushes it in his hand and the boy just walks away with it. 

“You don’t even fucking know his name,” Tetsurou exclaims, laughing like crazy at the act he just pulled. “And you said that iconic line from the game, how cheesy.”

“Oh, yes. But that’s okay. More time to get to know him even better.”

“He didn’t even fucking know who you were!” Tetsurou blurts out, shaking his head. 

“All the better.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see you on february 28th :)


	2. famous youtuber

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for all the kudos and the comments already!

— two: famous youtuber —

Kenma and Shouyou—that was his name, Kenma had learned that pretty quickly—started texting pretty frequently after Shouyou had texted him first.

Shouyou had called him out of one of his streams one time, making Kenma stop his stream abruptly to talk to Shouyou. It had been the first time Shouyou had called him, so he’d been super nervous and in his nervousness he had hurriedly shut down his server. 

“Shouyou?” he had asked.

“ _Kenma!!! Why didn’t you tell me you were a famous Youtuber???_ ” 

Kenma had laughed back then, louder than usually because of Shouyou’s reaction, and he still laughs at the memory. It had been two weeks since they had first met, and he had never told Shouyou. It had never come up in conversation before.

And right now, they’re four months into their friendship, and Kenma can’t deny the obvious feelings he is starting to develop for Shouyou. But that has to be pushed to the back of his mind. There is no way on Earth Shouyou would ever like someone like him.

Kenma takes a look at the clock, which suddenly became really present in his room. Shouyou is coming over in ten minutes. He hears the seconds ticking past.

Is his room clean? Is his computer area not messy anymore? It tends to get messy during his streams. He doesn’t want Shouyou to see that side of him just yet.

His door bell chimes and he jumps in his seat. It’s already time. He breathes in before meeting Shouyou at the front door. 

“Hi,” he expresses softly. “Nice seeing you again, Shouyou.”

“Hi, Kenma!” The sun beamed right back at him.

Shouyou didn’t like calling Kenma by his first name at first, but got used to it pretty quickly after Kenma had pushed him to do so. 

“Have you been streaming?”

“Yeah, this morning, but I already stopped a good hour or two ago.”

“That’s nice. Was it nice?”

“Yeah, it was.”

Shouyou walks inside and hangs his coat on the coat rack. “Your house smells really nice today, Kenma,” Shouyou hums. “It smells like you. It’s nice.” He goes on to walk into his living room like nothing happened, but Kenma doesn’t follow him. He has yet to move. 

“The heck?” he mutters. His heart was shaking a little.

Kenma ignores it and starts following Shouyou into his living room. 

“Shouyou,” he starts. The boy in question turns around and looks at him with big eyes, sitting cross-legged on his couch, chewing on a cookie he picked up from somewhere—wait, where did he get that cookie? This isn’t making any sense to him. He even got something to drink for himself and for Kenma, too. Kenma is still staring at Shouyou, still on his question, but Shouyou is looking so cute with that cookie in his mouth. He’s just munching on it and it’s distracting Kenma. Shouyou looks like he feels at home. That’s…

“Yes, Kenma?” 

“Ah, I forgot,” Kenma says. “But do you want to play a game?”

“Sure! What do you want to play?” Shouyou hops off the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see you on march 1st!!


	3. strand of hair

— three: strand of hair —

“Welcome and thanks for coming to my Monday Night Legend of Zelda stream you guys,” Kenma tells his viewers. “Appreciate it.” 

Comments keep coming in. 

> **—Kodzuken!! You’re so cute!**
> 
> **—welcome back!**
> 
> **—Missed you, kodzuken.**
> 
> **—hope you can finish the quest today, kodzuken!**
> 
> **—this stream better be good**
> 
> **—hearing his voice is already good enough!!!**

Kenma smiles while reading the comments out loud, reacting to a couple of them. He plays for a while, a good forty-five minutes, before hearing his door bell ring. 

“Holdup, guys,” he speaks into his mic. “Door bell just rang, let me quickly see who it is. I’ll be back asap!” 

Kenma shoves his chair back and makes his way out of his room, to his front door. He peeps through the hole. He sees a few strands of orange hair.

Orange hair?

Orange hair!

Oh goodness, Shouyou is standing in front of his house. Unannounced. 

_Shouyou is standing right in front of his house. Holy shit._

It’s not like it hasn’t happened before… But right now he’s in the middle of a stream.

Kenma opens the door for Shouyou. “Hi Shouyou,” he says. 

Shouyou’s smile is as bright as the sun. “Hi Kenma! Thought I’d drop by, if that isn’t too much of a problem to you of course. I was hoping we could watch a movie or something. I’ve been a little lonely the past couple days.” Shouyou passes by Kenma while removing his coat. It’s not like it’s Shouyou’s first time coming to Kenma’s house because he definitely knows where to go.

“Good to see you, Shouyou.” Kenma closes the door behind his friend. “It’s never a problem, you know that. I’m in the middle of a stream right now, but if you stay off screen I guess it’s fine if you sit to the side.” He walks into his gaming room, before Shouyou can move into his living room. “Feel free to sit in the living room and make yourself at home, though.”

“Oh! You’re streaming? If I had known I wouldn’t have come...”

“It’s alright, don’t worry about it.”

“Alright! No problem then. I know you don’t like friends getting in the way of your streams. Don’t worry about me at all and take your time with your stream,” Hinata tells him, smiling at him. Kenma’s heart makes a fuzzy sound. 

_Ah. Okay._

“Sure,” Kenma responses. “The Switch is also connected to the TV in the living room if you’d like to play.” 

Shouyou’s eyes lit up, opens up his mouth, “Uwohh, cool! Thanks Kenma!” and skips off to the living room. 

Kenma’s heart feels fuzzy yet another time.

He buries it to the side and returns to his gaming room. As soon as he sits down he sees the comments returning and welcoming him back. The time tells him he’s been away for at least five minutes, so it’s cool to see all the people that are still online. 

“Thank you guys for waiting,” he comments as he scrolls through the comment section, smiling at some fans interacting with each other. More comments are welcoming him back. “My friend came over, he’s in the living room playing the Switch. He can be quite loud from time to time so if you hear something, that’s him,” Kenma briefly explains to the public.

The comments tell him it’s okay if he comes up on screen and they want to know his name, but Kenma ignores it. The public doesn’t need to know about Hinata Shouyou. 

He plays for a while before he hears his name being called. 

“Kenma?” 

He looks up, Shouyou’s head is hanging around the corner. The time tells him he’s been playing for at least an hour already. Comments are flying in.

> **—who is that? is that your friend?**
> 
> **—omg is it friend-kun?????????**
> 
> **—Kodzuken, I want to see you friend!**
> 
> **—show you friend!!!!!!!! don’t keep him to yourself!!!!!!!!!!**

He wonders if they heard his name or just a sound and him noticing the call for his name. He hopes for the second one.

“Yes?”

“Can I sit in here? I got bored again.” If Shouyou could talk in smileys, he would never miss an opportunity to do so.

Kenma nods and Shouyou strides into the gaming room. He follows him with his eyes and watches him fall down on the sofa that’s in the gaming room. Kenma leans back in his chair and continues playing. In the meantime, Shouyou is watching him. After a few minutes or so, Kenma’s suddenly empty glass that he has been drinking from was replaced with a new glass. 

He looks to the side, straight at Shouyou’s smiling face. “Thanks,” he whispers, shows a quick smile and returns to his game. 

> **—aaaaaaaaaaa kodzuken was smiling**
> 
> **—This is the best day of my life!**
> 
> **—I can’t believe we saw Kodzuken smiling today**

And there are some dozen more comments about his smile, but then he sees it, the first person commenting it and then a second. It has started.

> **—I saw a strand of orange hair. The hair of his friend!?**
> 
> **—I did, too! How exciting!**

_Ah, they saw Shouyou. Now what… What do I do. I hate this._

“Kenma,” he hears. Kenma looks up to his right. “Did they see me?” Shouyou whispers. The way his eyes are meeting Kenma’s is making his stomach twist a little.

Kenma nods. 

Shouyou’s face turns sad. 

“Don’t be sad,” Kenma whispers, his microphone turned away from his mouth just enough. “Don’t worry about it.” 

He gifts Shouyou another smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading again!! see you march 3rd!!


	4. sneakily

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a day early bc it's super short!! sorry but enjoy nonetheless <3

— four: sneakily —

It happens more and more that Shouyou keeps appearing in Kenma’s videos. 

He’s sneaking in and out, not only giving him something to drink but also to eat.

Kenma is subtly thanking him every time, but Shouyou being Shouyou could not let it go. 

Sneaking in a ‘hello’ or ‘bye’ after his food droppings didn’t take him long either. 

It happens even when Shouyou hadn’t appeared in one of Kenma’s videos. His viewers, his most dedicated fans, started questioning if something had happened when Shouyou had been MIA for a while. Then the secret got revealed of Shouyou appearing that one time when Kenma wasn’t there.

Kenma had to hear Shouyou out after that. 

And Shouyou had to confess. 

He’d felt so embarrassed, but owned up to it.

Kenma didn't mind, though. 

Above anything, he had found it cute. Really cute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see you march 4th :)


	5. solo

— five: solo —

Since that first time, Shouyou has come on screen often. Even in Youtube videos that Kenma has posted. First he was just annoying Kenma, but that quickly turned into frequent appearances. He doesn't have a name for his on screen persona just yet. Kenma and he have decided on not telling the audience about his name to save his identity. 

Kenma’s idea.

Shouyou doesn’t mind coming on camera, though. So he is often trying to appear on screen, casting a wave or something else to the viewers. Now that he knows Kenma doesn’t mind recording and posting content that involves Shouyou, the latter is taking his shot whenever he can.

Another time Shouyou is taking his shot is today.

Kenma is currently doing a 24-hour live stream, but has to take his well needed potty breaks (as Shouyou called them for him). Kenma agreed, because he likes listening to Shouyou. The boy might not have a lot of braincells, according to Kenma, but knew one or more things about a few life hacks. Frequent potty breaks with being one of them. 

Shouyou has to assure that Kenma was going to follow his orders, too. Shouyou will also get angry with him if he stays in front of the computer for more than five hours. 

And thus Kenma takes his break every five hours. He has to listen to Shouyou, after all.

Right as Shouyou hears his own alarm, he notices the door to the living room open. “Shouyou, I’m taking a ten minute break,” Kenma announces. 

“Alright!” Shouyou chimes and smiles at him. “See you in ten.” Shouyou follows Kenma outside with his eyes and waits until he’s around the corner. He knows Kenma is taking a quick stroll to the convenience store to get his favorite apple pie. As fast as Shouyou can, he drops his book and hurries to Kenma’s gaming room. 

His heart is beating in his chest as he picks up Kenma’s headphones. “Hello?” he speaks into the microphone. He’s so excited, he can’t stop smiling. His heart is not beating in his chest anymore, it’s ramming in his chest. He watches the screen: on the left himself; and on the right the comment section. He grins, “Hello, followers, friends, and fans of Kodzuken.” 

The comments are starting to flow in already.

> **—oh!!!! kodzuken’s friend!!!!!!**
> 
> **—Friend!!! I have been waiting for you!**
> 
> **—How exciting!**
> 
> **—To what do we owe the honor omg**
> 
> **—speakspeakspeak!**
> 
> **—we finally get to hear his voice how COOL**
> 
> **—i can’t breathe this is so cool**

“Hello everyone! So cool to see how excited you all are!” He laughs out loud. “This is so thrilling.” He greets a few other viewers, before saying, “I have ten, no, less than ten minutes now, before Ke—Kodzuken comes back, so let’s make this quick. I think it’s super exciting to see how everyone supports Kodzuken on this platform. I haven’t known Kodzuken for long but this is truly so inspiring. So, thank you all.” He smiles into the camera once more. 

Comments are telling him how sweet he his, with his cute monologue. He blushes at the pleasant comments. 

One comment, though, stops him in his tracks. 

> **—unknown-kun, do you like kodzuken?**

“Ah!” Shouyou exclaims. “This one comment asked me if I like Kodzuken. Of course, I like him! He’s such a good friend of mine and I appreciate him so much. And I can’t stress that enough.” He nods firmly at his own words. He stands by them.

The following comments he reads as reaction on his answer are different than he expected them to be. 

> **—hahaha friend-kun you’re so cute**
> 
> **—wwwwwwwwwwww**
> 
> **—hahahaahha is he this oblivious?**

“What do you guys mean?” 

_Oblivious?_ Shouyou thought. _Hmm._

> **—friend-kun hahahah**
> 
> **—they asked if you seriously liked kodzuken**
> 
> **—i think they meant it romantically www**
> 
> **—Friend-kun! Do you ~love~ Kodzuken!?**
> 
> **—Yes or No haha**
> 
> **—romantically, friend-kun**
> 
> **—~~love~~ ww**
> 
> **—Please answer!!! I really need to know!!!**
> 
> **—romantically!!!!!!!!!**
> 
> **—we finally get to see you and now we want and /need/ to know !!**

Reading these comments are making Shouyou blush, which is what the viewers are seeing too. He presses his hands flat against his cheek, covering up his ears, too. They tend to get red when his cheeks do, too. The viewers make notice of that and the comments about his cheeks and ear are not stopping at all.

“What? If I like Kodzuken romantically?” 

His heart is beating in his chest again, but with a different purpose this time.. _Like him... Romantically?_

Shouyou starts laughing nervously. “I don’t know.” Shouyou sends his stare to the side. “Do I?” He doesn't know how to stop the corners of his lip 

How could Kenma’s fans have figured that out from the few times Shouyou had actually appeared on screen? 

Shit, the time tells him he’s got three minutes left and he knows how punctual Kenma can be. 

Shouyou gives in and laughs comfortably this time. “You all caught me. But! I’m gonna have to make this quick!” He breathes in.

There. He said it.

This is the first time he is admitting his love for Kenma to someone else. Not just someone else, a whole public that is Kenma’s—or Kodzuken’s—fans. He has to be careful not saying Kenma’s real name out there. 

“So, yeah, ever since I met Kodzuken I already thought that he was super cute. I never really fed on anything else in regards to love, but Kodzuken was really warm in accepting me and becoming my friend. I see that the comments find that shocking, but I swear it’s the truth! Anyways, his eyes are super cute and when he smiles I can just melt. You probably haven’t seen it yet—ah! Someone says they have—but it’s the warmest feeling a person could feel when he’s smiling.” 

He takes a breather, the time says he’s got about thirty seconds left.

“Guys! My time is up!! Don’t ever speak about this to Kodzuken or I won’t be appearing at all anymore!!” he says, rushing his time, “I also need all of you to spam in the comment section with random things so Kodzuken will never ever find out about this. Thanks for listening and thanks for playing, hopefully see you all soon!”

Not taking one more look at the comment section, Shouyou throws off Kenma’s headphones and makes sure to leave it in a careful place, almost exactly the same as it was before. 

Right as he stands up, he hears the front door fall into its lock.

“Shouyou?”

“I’m here! In your gaming room!” he yells at Kenma, then lowers his voice, for the viewers’ ears only, “Kodzuken is back you guys!”

He takes one last glance at the camera, sees his reflection on the screen, and brings his index finger to his mouth, signing them to be silent. 

But also a promise that it will not be his last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see you march 6!!
> 
> i might get a little busy over the weekend but hopefully i can still update the other three chapters nonetheless :)


	6. sleep talking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello welcome back :)

— six: sleep talking —

“Thanks for watching everybody and good night,” Kenma speaks into the microphone while waving a slow ‘bye’ to his camera. Shouyou, from behind his shoulder, is also waving excitedly bye. 

Shouyou watches Kenma stretch his arms. His jaw clenches. “I’m so tired,” he voices, yawning loudly. “I’m going to bed soon, Shouyou. Do you want to stay over or are you going home?” 

“I mean,” Shouyou starts, hesitating a little, “if you don’t mind, I don’t.” He sends a smile at Kenma. 

“Okay.” Kenma isn’t moving for a good few seconds, and Shouyou smiles softly. Kenma is staring at him and he doesn’t want to ruin the moment. “I— I’ll make your bed.”

“Al~righty,” Shouyou says, his feet dangling off the chair he is still sitting on. His eyes follow Kenma hurrying off to his bedroom and preparing the extra bed on the futon that’s in Kenma’s bedroom. He has to hold his breath to not start giggling at Kenma’s hurried movement. He seemed nervous for some reason. Which made it even more cute. 

Shouyou stands up from the chair and looks around Kenma’s gaming room. He turns on his spot twice before his eyes fall on a certain object. Is that… 

The picture Tetsurou had taken of them on that very first day that they met each other. 

Shouyou grins to himself. He had never shared it with Kenma, but had shared it on his personal Instagram account, so Kenma must have saved it from there. 

Then, Shouyou discovers a few more pictures that were hidden in Kenma’s gaming room. How could he never have noticed that before? Shouyou laughs behind his hand. There’s even one behind Kenma’s gaming chair that can be in clear view when his chair is turned. Did the fans ever notice them? Probably.

It makes Shouyou warm from the inside. He heart aches a little, but he doesn’t think too much of it, since that has happened more often lately. 

Maybe he should lower his amount of coffee a day. Maybe he should. 

“Shouyou, your bed is ready,” he hears Kenma say from his bedroom. 

“O~kay, coming!” Shouyou replies and hops over to Kenma’s bedroom. He’s had a few sleepovers at Kenma’s, but somehow, tonight feels different. Does it have anything to do with the stream he interrupted a few days ago? It hasn’t left Shouyou’s thoughts at all. He is also not getting weird hopes or anything, but why does it feel weird walking into Kenma’s room this time and seeing two separate beds? What did he even expect? He sighs to himself.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Shouyou smiles at the worried face in front of him. “Just tired. Thank you for making my bed, Kenma! Appreciate it.”

“Of course.”

Shouyou notices Kenma is already dressed for bed and that he himself still has to get changed into his pajamas. 

Embarrassment creeps up to his cheeks, and he tries to wave it off, but it’s not really working. This is the first time he’s going to get changed with Kenma being in the same room after that stream he interrupted. _Oohhh_ , why did he have to do that?! 

He turns around, his back facing Kenma and starts undressing. Shirt first, pajama shirt on, pants off, pajama pants on. Okay, that wasn’t too bad. Is Shouyou afraid to turn around? Maybe. He takes a deep breath before turning, and notices Kenma isn’t even looking at him. What was he getting so nervous for? How childish of himself. 

What Shouyou didn’t see, though, was that Kenma had gotten immensely flustered the minute Shouyou took off his shirt, revealing his bare back. 

“Are you tired, Kenma?”

Kenma coughs. “Yeah. I kinda am.”

“Then let’s go to bed quickly, okay?”

Kenma nods. “Sure.”

“I’m so excited. I really enjoy staying over at your place, Kenma,” Shouyou mentions as they get ready for bed. The bed Kenma prepared for him is made up nicely and Shouyou’s eyes lit up when he notices his favorite pillow and blanket—they’re Kenma’s, but Shouyou always uses them whenever he stays over, so he kind of claimed them. 

“You do? That’s good to hear, I guess,” Kenma mumbles. 

Shouyou looks at him. Kenma is rubbing his sleepy eyes, followed by a yawn that he hides behind his hand. Shouyou laughs. 

“What are you laughing about?” Kenma asks him, his face being half covered by his covers, his eyes just comping up above them. They are staring Shouyou straight in his eyes.

“Nothing in particular.” Shouyou sends him a warm smile.

“As if.” Kenma pouts.

Shouyou watches him turn around and getting ready to fall asleep. “You’re just really cute, Kenma.”

Kenma freezes. “What?” 

“Nothing. Let’s go sleep.”

“Okay…”

It takes Kenma ten minutes to fall asleep. Shouyou counted. 

“Kenma,” he whispers.

No sound. Just soft and sleepy breaths. 

Good. 

Not making any sounds, Shouyou raises his blanket and reveals his bare legs to the cold night. “Ahh, cold!” he hisses softly. He tiptoes over to Kenma’s gaming room, but not before giving one last glance at Kenma—who’s asleep sweet and sound. Shouyou smiles. He looks so adorable when he’s asleep. 

Ah, that’s not what he should be going for. He grins as he sneaks into Kenma’s gaming room, slides over to his camera shelve and chooses one of Kenma’s cameras. He picks it up, checks it as if he knows all there is to know about cameras and nods in agreement with himself. 

He sneaks back into the bedroom, tightly holding onto the camera and sits down next to Kenma’s bed, as softly as he can. He should not wake him. Not at all.

He fiddles a bit with the camera and finally finds the button to turn it on with. 

And.

He starts filming. 

“Hello, friends and fans of Kodzuken, it is I, friend-kun!” Shouyou giggles softly as he whispers into the camera. “It’s currently eleven-forty, no, forty-two to be exact! And I’m staying over at Kodzuken’s tonight. This is a prerecording as you can see, not a usual live video. Ah, I don’t know why am I am telling you this. You might already know this.” Shouyou laughs nervously. “I’m here with Kodzuken and I need to be really quiet so I don’t wake him up. This is my secret video.”

Shouyou turns the camera into Kenma’s direction and makes it so that the camera is pointed at Kenma’s small face, whose hair is covering up half of his face. Shouyou chuckles. He removes the falling strands in front of his face. 

“So cute,” Shouyou giggles, but then freezes. 

Right. 

He’s holding a camera now. 

Was this really a good plan?

“Kenma,” Shouyou starts and Kenma hums softly in response. Shouyou moves the camera to his face to show his surprise. “I’m curious if he’ll start sleep talking to me,” Shouyou whispers. “That’d be interesting.”

Kenma moves in his sleep a little and Hinata has to hold back a squirm of cuteness in reaction. 

“Say, Kenma, what is your favorite game?”

“Hmm… what? Fav… favori… favorite game…” Kenma’s eyebrows frown deeply. He looks very deep in thought. “How… favorite game… favorite game…”

Shouyou giggles softly. “Looks like he can’t choose, how adorable. I have never heard him talk about it before, so I was really curious.”

He observes Kenma closely. Kenma’s lips are slightly parted, his breathings are slow, but steady. Shouyou wants to touch his face, caress him, move his hand through his hair and feel his skin onto his. 

And Shouyou kind of forgets that he’s holding a camera right then and there.

His hand moves on its own. It’s being raised, until it stops right in front of Kenma’s face. His cheeks are starting to swell a little already. 

Shouyou smiles, which the camera doesn’t see, because it’s still aimed at Kenma. But Shouyou is still unaware of the camera. 

Shouyou moves his hand to Kenma’s hair and starts petting it. “Your hair is really soft tonight, Kenma. Did you shower before I came to your place?”

Kenma hums and it sounds somewhat disagreeing.

“No?” Shouyou laughs. “Your hair is always this soft, I know, I know.”

Kenma nudges his face into Shouyou’s hand and Shouyou’s cheeks are becoming warmer and warmer. His hand moves lower, still caressing his hair, but moving to the side of his face. Shouyou laughs softly, a smile not leaving his face as he thinks Kenma looks like a kitten who is purring loudly. 

“Say, Kenma, what’s on your mind right now?”

Kenma doesn’t speak immediately and Shouyou inches a little closer. His face is not even ten centimeters away from Kenma’s right now. 

“I like Shouyou.”

“Hihi, I like you too Kenma. You’re so cute sleep-talking like this.” He moves his thumb across Kenma’s cheek.

“I love Shouyou.”

“Wh— what…?”

Kenma just hums. 

Shouyou doesn’t know what to say.

And the camera become very present. Very. Present.

He swallows loudly and tries to find his words.

Quickly, he points the camera at his face. “A-anyways, this is the full video with everything that happened. I don’t know how to cut video or edit them, so what you see is what happened. Bye!”

With heavy breaths, Shouyou quickly turns off the camera.

In a hurry, he uploads the video to Youtube, without editing anything. 

A five minute video that says not much. But then again, maybe too much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry this update wasn't march 6th, but i suddenly got super busy!!!!
> 
> i sadly cannot promise when the next chapter will be. but stay tuned by subscribing!
> 
> see you soon :)


	7. q&a

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello :)
> 
> enjoy the second to last chapter !!! <3

— seven: q&a —

“Hellooooo guys,” Shouyou yells into the camera. “So good to be back in front of the camera with Kodzuken!” He excitedly waves into the camera. He tilts his head to look at Kenma, who’s sitting next to him, feeling a little shy.

Shouyou nudges Kenma in his sides. It almost seems like Shouyou’s the one with the popular channel

“Hello.” Kenma continues to be shy and Shouyou giggles. “I brought Sho with me today. As you can see.”

Shouyou notices Kenma is very stiff today. He is hesitant if he should grab Kenma’s hand under the table. But it’s resting on Kenma’s thigh and Shouyou doesn’t know if he can go there. 

Kenma found out about the video. It was bound to happen. It’s not like Shouyou could have hidden forever, the channel being Kenma’s and all— _and_ the video getting a million views in 24 hours. The fans apparently couldn’t get enough of it. It was only a five minute video, but it exposed Kenma so much that he hadn’t talked about it to Shouyou at all. Except for Kenma sending Shouyou a text with “ _I can’t believe you’d expose me like that_ ”. Shouyou was hurt. But it had been his own fault. And expose? Would that mean more than Shouyou had previously thought? Except he couldn’t bring it up right then, because Kenma would ignore even his simple ‘Hi’ and ‘Hello’ texts. Kenma never took down the video, though.

Today, luckily, Kenma called Shouyou again. Shouyou’s heart exploded when he got the call and rushed over to his place immediately. 

“We’re doing a live Q&A session today,” Kenma said. “So if you’ve got questions, start sending them our way in the chatbox, and we’ll see what we can answer.”

“We are going to try and answer a lot of them!” Shouyou announced happily. His smile hasn’t died down yet and he hopes Kenma notices. “So start sending them in!” 

They stare at the screen for a good minute. Shouyou is kind of well-aware that Kenma is sitting next to him. He notices from the screen that Kenma is barely sitting in front of the screen, and that it’s all of Shouyou’s body that is taking up two-third of the screen. He scoots to the right a little, tugging onto Kenma’s shirt, signaling that he can move a little more to the middle of the screen. Kenma simply moves along.

Shouyou moves his eyes back to the screen and smiles as he sees the comments welcoming them. A couple of the comments are also already sending in questions that they want to know.

> **—sho-kun so good to see you again!!**
> 
> **—i missed you both!!!!**
> 
> **—Kodzuken spare us a smile please.**
> 
> **—say, Sho, would you like to be famous?**
> 
> **—what’s you guys’ favorite holiday: Beach, Mountain, City?**
> 
> **—Last film you watched?**
> 
> **—first ride to go to in a theme park?**
> 
> **—have you guys ever been to Disney World?**

“Woah,” Kenma says.

“That’s a lot of questions already, you guys!” Shouyou comments, giggling and not stopping to read.

> **—which of you two is the laziest?**
> 
> **—What are your shoe sizes?**
> 
> **—who is the better dancer**
> 
> **—Italian or Mexican food?**

Shouyou can’t help but see the questions pop up that ask them… more private things… if Shouyou can call it that. It makes him uncomfortable.

> **—are you guys dating yet??**
> 
> **—please tell me you guys are dating.**
> 
> **—I NEED THIS INFORMATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**
> 
> **—sho-kun we all know you like kenma and he likes you**
> 
> **—just say yes to dating already ffs**

“Okay, okay,” Kenma says, “calm down. Let’s start answering a couple first.”

“Yes!” Shouyou chimes in, trying his best to ignore those comments.

“Sho, this one’s for you.” Kenma moves a little closer to the screen to read better. “ _Sho-kun_ , it reads, _how long does it take you to get your hair like that?_ ” Kenma turns to Shouyou, waiting for an answer.

Shouyou laughs. “None! If I use a comb or a brush it will get super fluffy and that’s not what I want. So, I don’t do anything about it!” he answers with a bright smile.

> **—THAT’S SO CUTE**
> 
> **—i wish my hair worked that way**
> 
> **—sho-kun so cute uwu**

“Kodzuken!” Shouyou says after reading a question. “This one asks what your first job was.”

“My first job?” Kenma moves his eyes away from the camera, thinking. “My first job… I don’t really worked somewhere… I started this channel right after high school graduation…”

“That’s so cool!” Shouyou comments. “I didn’t know that. So cool,” Shouyou repeats.

“Sho, this persons wants to know what your dream job is.” 

“My dream job, huh…” Shouyou starts grinning and Kenma looks at him, questioningly. “I don’t think even you know what my dream job is, Kodzuken.” Kenma’s eyes widen and he opens his mouth slightly, thinking he can immediately answer, but he closes his mouth as quickly as he had opened it. “Do you?” Shouyou asks him again.

“I… don’t think I do.” Kenma doesn’t know what face to make… He doesn’t know his dream job and Shouyou is laughing at Kenma’s cute reaction.

Shouyou moves to the camera. “What do you think my dream job is? Tell us in the comments and the side who guesses first can get a Sho-special!” Shouyou laughs softly. He doesn’t know yet what the Sho-special will be, but he’ll think of something. 

While Kenma puts on his thinking face, Shouyou turns to scroll through the comments. 

> **—sho-kun so cute www**
> 
> **—i want to know what the sho-special is**
> 
> **—Sho’s dream job is probably something in an office**
> 
> **— Sho!! I bet you’d want to be a teacher!**
> 
> **—@ that person saying Sho would work in a office, ur dead wrong www**
> 
> **—sports player**
> 
> **—social worker???????**
> 
> **—swimmer as they do in free!! that would be cool** **—mangaka… no i can’t see it**
> 
> **—sports…….**
> 
> **—NO A POLICE OFFICER**
> 
> **—the sports comment makes me wonder too**
> 
> **—yeah look at his biceps**
> 
> **—sho’s biceps are unreal**
> 
> **—wwww kodzuken could take some lessons from sho**

Shouyou laughs loudly. Kenma looks up from his thoughts and Shouyou points at the last comment. Kenma laughs softly too as his eyes go from Shouyou’s biceps to Kenma’s biceps. Yup, Shouyou’s were at least twice the size of Kenma’s. 

At least.

Shouyou looks back at the comments. There’s one particularly comment that catches his eyes and that he can’t let go. _That’s funny_ , he thinks. 

“Someone came very close just now,” he mentions, eyeing Kenma’s reaction and the comments at the same time. Kenma’s eyes widen and he pushes his chair closer to the screen. He starts scrolling up and down the comment section. His squinty eyes make Shouyou laugh: he probably can’t find the answer. 

“Sho, I can’t find it. None of these seem like something you would want to have as a dream job…” Kenma says, his eyes still plastered to the screen. 

“I didn’t say the exact answer is on there, I just said that one of them came really close,” Shouyou replies, a little mocking towards Kenma. 

Kenma huffs. “That’s unfair.” A little pout formed its way to its mouth. 

“Haha! It’s not unfair. I’ll tell you later. Maybe,” he adds after a short stop when Kenma looked up at him, with an even bigger pout. “Anyways!” Shouyou wants to continue. A different question caught his eyes just now and he can’t wait to hear Shouyou’s answer. 

“Anyways what?”

“I saw a question I want you to answer.”

“What is it.”

“Kodzuken, tell me and the viewers. What is your favorite game?” 

Shouyou looks at Kenma as his face becomes pale. His frown becomes very deep and Shouyou immediately thinks back to that time. Kenma’s face is painted the exact same way as the secret-not-so-secret-anymore video that he took of an asleep Kenma. Just like that time, Kenma is muttering words that sound like “what is my favorite game?” but not in a complete sentence at all. Shouyou laughs loudly. 

“It’s okay, Kodzuken, you can stop now,” Shouyou says, laughing with his hand in front of his mouth. “It’s okay, let’s not do this you to another time.”

A couple comments on the screen tell him there are people who haven’t seen the video yet, and other comments going wild to the soft reference Shouyou made just now. Kenma’s frown tells Shouyou he isn’t done thinking yet and Shouyou has to move closer to him to forcibly remove his hands from his hair and stop the frowning. “If you keep on frowning you’re going to get those ugly lines in your cute forehead, Kodzuken.” Shouyou smiles softly at the boy in front of him, who looks up shockingly.

“What did you say just now?”

“You’re going to get ugly frown lines in your forehead if you keep up frowning this deep,” Shouyou repeats.

“Oh.” 

Kenma eyes him and Shouyou is confused. Had he said something odd just now? He doesn’t think he did. Shouyou moves back to the big screen in front of them and reads a couple more comments that are directed at him out loud and answers them. 

Kenma is silent.

He doesn’t see Kenma staring at him, but he can definitely feel his eyes burning in his back. Shouyou tries to ignore it, but it’s nearly impossible to do so. He just wants to turn around, face Kenma, and embrace him in the biggest hug he can. But he can’t. Because they are currently live. And that is the only reason, Shouyou tells himself. 

Shouyou leans back after answering around twenty quick questions by himself and makes sure he can share the screen with Kenma again. 

“I’m hungry,” Shouyou mentions. “What should we eat tonight?”

> **—ahh are you guys going to eat together?**
> 
> **—i wish sho would cook for m** **e**
> 
> **—bet sho is the better cook lol** ****

Shouyou laughs at the comments. “I’m probably only the better cook, because Kodzuken only stays behind his computer twenty-four seven.” 

> **—they would be so cute, cooking together**
> 
> **—ugh dream couple**
> 
> **—cant they stop being so unbearably cute**
> 
> **—cute ahhhhhhhh**
> 
> **—blushy kodzuken again pls**
> 
> **—sho-kun dream husband** ****

Shouyou can’t help but feel uncomfortable again. He looks at Kenma, but he invested himself in a detail with his Switch. 

“Guys! Send us some more Q&A questions,” Shouyou asks of the crowd, and it makes Kenma focus his thoughts back to the camera. He probably got a little distracted just now, and Shouyou has to withhold a giggle. 

“Yes. Shoot.” Kenma raises his knees to rest his chin on them. 

So cute.

The new comments are innocent at first.

> **—who is the bigger foodie**
> 
> **—Favorite cafe in Tokyo?**
> 
> **—which animal do you want to be?**
> 
> **—any weird habits you guys have?**
> 
> **—Last film you watched (together)?**
> 
> **—kodzuken what’s the color of your eyes hihi**
> 
> **—i still want to Know what sho’s dream job is**
> 
> **—kodzuken when are you going back to black hair**
> 
> **—favorite childhood memory please.**

And Shouyou laughs at them. Just as he finally wants to answer the ‘dream job’ question, his eyes catch… more uncomfortable questions. And not just questions.

> **—when did you start dating**
> 
> **—who kissed first**
> 
> **—kisssssss**
> 
> **—Say I love you to each other please.**
> 
> **—when did you start sleeping together**
> 
> **—share a kiss come on**
> 
> **—come on. stop pretending you guys are just friends.**
> 
> **—No need to hide any longer <3**
> 
> **—know we ship you guys!!**
> 
> **—kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss**
> 
> **—the act is over we know you guys ain’t ‘just friends’**
> 
> **—act lovey dovey please.**
> 
> **—come out already**

The last few comments made Shouyou swallow loudly. He blinks a few times and doesn’t know how to respond. He wants to say something, anything, but words aren’t coming out. 

Kenma speaks up before he can say anything. “I think it’s time to end the live. Good talking to you all again. See you next time.” Kenma’s voice isn’t his usual monotone voice. It’s even more low and flat and Shouyou barely recognizes him. He watches Kenma closely as he shuts down the live, shuts down his computer and makes his way to leave the room. 

“Kenma!” Shouyou calls. He stands up to rush after Kenma, who already passed the door. “Kenma…"

“Shouyou,” Kenma interrupts anything Shouyou wants or wanted to say. 

“Yes?” he answers, hesitating, afraid of what Kenma is going to say. 

“I think it’s better for you to go home now, instead of staying over for dinner.”

Shouyou can’t see Kenma’s expression, but his voice said enough.

“Oh.” 

“Sorry.”

“No… No. It’s okay. Really.”

Kenma watches Shouyou as he packs his things together, ready to leave. He leads him to his front door and wants to apologize again, but Shouyou stops him.

“It’s okay, Kenma. Don’t apologize.” 

He sets his foot outside the door and right as he wants to walk away, he turns around one more time. 

“It was pro-volleyballer, by the way,” Shouyou mutters. “My dream job.”

Kenma laughs, his face smushed between the doorway. He looks cute. “That’s… How could I not have guessed that. That’s so typically you.” 

“Let’s talk about it another time, okay?” Shouyou laughs, too. His eyes are squinted at Kenma and he tries to hide his tears. 

He quickly walks away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope y'all are still staying safe!!


	8. three times

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for waiting. enjoy the final chapter.
> 
> took me another month, but i'm so glad with the outcome. and it's extra long to celebrate this beautiful ship.

— eight: three times —

Three times. 

Three times is finally what it takes for Shouyou to believe Kenma. 

Kenma and Shouyou have known each other for a little while now. Maybe four months. Shouyou still likes coming over, still likes eating dinner with him, going out on trips together, and watching Kenma play his video games, sometimes frowning while playing. He likes it. 

He maybe started liking it a little too much. However, he isn’t going to be confessing it. Anything. That would be a little too much. 

What would there even be to confess?

He doesn’t even know if that is all completely true. What if he will scare off Kenma? Yeah, that’s it. He isn’t going to confess it anytime soon. Knowing Kenma, it will just scare him off and go into full lockdown mode. 

Shouyou giggles to himself every time he thinks about his soft friend getting nervous and who starts blushing every time he mentions something cute about Kenma. 

He’s currently skipping, making sure not to rock his cute little basket full of food that he prepared for Kenma too much. 

The road to Kenma’s house, however, is taking longer than he is used to. For some reason, there’s something dragging him but Shouyou can’t really put his finger on it. 

Maybe later. 

Kenma is home and not playing games for once when Shouyou rings his doorbell. 

“Kenma!!” 

“Hello, Shouyou. Come in,” Kenma opens the door a little wider but Shouyou shakes his head. “Not?”

“No! I prepared some food for us to eat out, picnic style!”

“Oh.”

“Oh? … You don’t want to go on a picnic?”

“No! No, shit, I mean—” Kenma sighs. “Let me rephrase. I do. I’d like to go on a picnic with you, yes. Let me get my coat and shoes on.”

Shouyou’s face is lighting up of Kenma’s comment. “Aaaah~ so great! I prepared lots of nice things that you will like, Kenma.”

Kenma peaks over his shoulder while grabbing his coat, straight into Shouyou’s eyes. Shouyou, getting a little uncomfortable with the deep stare, looks away from Kenma, but he knows exactly what that stare was for. 

The rustling reassures Shouyou that Kenma continued putting on his shoes, which is a sign for him to breathe again. It’s not that Kenma’s stares are that deep… Shouyou still gets nervous every time Kenma stares at him with that deep stare of his.

It’s not really uncomfortable, but Kenma’s stare just does… things to Shouyou’s mind and stomach. 

“Alright, I’m done. Let’s go.”

Kenma walks out ahead of Shouyou, looking really excited for some reason. Shouyou giggles. It makes him excited for their trip too. Shouyou hasn’t really planned out a lot, but at least part one is working: asking Kenma to go out on a picnic date with him.

A picnic… date…

Did he really just think that? 

Shouyou nearly stops in his tracks, but Kenma would notice that, so he quickly regains his normal step. 

_It’s not a date,_ he thinks, over and over again. _Just a friendly picnic between friends_.

Because that’s what they’ve been. Friends.

“Kenma,” Shouyou starts, to distract not only himself, but to also make Kenma realize to calm his steps down. Someone is a little too excited for the food Shouyou prepared. He nearly giggles again before catching himself. He was going to ask a question.

“Did you have any good streams in the time that I haven’t seen you?”

“Hmm,” Kenma thinks for a couple seconds, before announcing a soft, “Ah.” Shouyou looks at him, examining his facial expressions. They’re a little brighter than usual: telling Shouyou that he’s, in fact, had a very good week full of streams.

Shouyou listens to Kenma’s cute talks about his favorite streams of the past week. Listening to Kenma makes their arrival to the picnic site come quicker. 

Somehow, anxiety is coming to him when they’re nearing the park. It’s quite busy and he doesn’t really know how Kenma will react in this situation. 

But looking at Kenma makes his fears disappear like snow disappears in the sun. Kenma is already at the start of the park, standing underneath the tall entrance board that makes him look so tiny. Shouyou has stopped in his tracks and doesn’t know where to look other than at Kenma, who is smiling from ear to ear; something Shouyou could only have dreamt of happening before. 

He laughs as he finally nears closer, remembering his objective. “Are you having fun without me?” he asks Kenma.

“Pff, no,” Kenma replies. Shouyou looks at him, because the tone of Kenma’s voice made it sound like there was more of where that came from. “The fun doesn’t start unless you’re with me.”

Shouyou hides a smile behind his free hand. “Really?”

Shouyou can’t see Kenma’s face, because he just turned away from Shouyou to look somewhere else. “Yes. Really.” 

That answer is all that Shouyou needs to hear before skipping until he’s standing next to Kenma again. “Cool,” he simply answers, because if he answers with something a little longer he’s afraid his voice my quiver too much. He coughs. “Let’s find a spot. It seems to be pretty busy. Are you going to be okay with that?” 

“Yes.” Kenma still doesn’t look at Shouyou, but Shouyou does take a glance at Kenma, and he sees he’s clenching his jaw. 

“You don’t have to do this for me, and you know this, right?” Shouyou tries to sound as reassuring as possible, but there’s not telling in how bad Kenma can walk out of this. 

“No, I know! Don’t worry, Sho, I’ll be okay,” he starts walking ahead of Shouyou, who isn’t moving just yet. 

He clenches his basket. Kenma just called him ‘Sho’. His online tag which had never rolled over Kenma’s tongue ever before outside of his or their streams. Is that why it felt so… special..? interesting..? moving..? to him?He can’t really place the feeling he felt in that very moment just now. But it was something, that’s for sure. 

Before Kenma can get ahead of him too much, and before Kenma notices he stopped a little back, he catches up to Kenma’s pace again. “Did you find a nice spot already?”

“Not yet,” Kenma replies. “But I thought near the water would be nice. It’s probably a little cooler with the fountain being on.”

Kenma didn’t know Shouyou’s favorite spot in this park was next to the tiny waterfall that they installed last year, but his second most favorite spot was definitely next to the fountain. And he swears that he decided on that before Kenma and him went on this picnic date.

_Argh!_ _Again the picnic date thought_. Shouyou has a sudden tendency to slap himself on his forehead. Not a date, he has to drum that into his mind. Definitely not a date. 

Just friends meeting up for a picnic that Shouyou made himself.

They sit down and Kenma really seems to enjoy himself. 

Shouyou smiles at his friend—who is more than happy to be served some good homemade apple pie.

“Your apple pies are truly the best thing I’ve ever had,” Kenma comments, stuffing his face with another piece. 

Shouyou laughs. “Good to hear. I made them with a lot of love.”

“Thanks. Really appreciate it.” Kenma doesn’t look at him anymore, but looks away, his eyes casted over the water. 

Shouyou brings his knees up to his chest and rests his head on it.He has to try his hardest not to stare at his pretty side profile. Anything but it being too noticeable. 

They don’t really talk. They have their attention focused on eating Shouyou’s homemade apple pie and the sandwiches he made, too. It’s nice, sitting like this. Shouyou doesn’t mind and it doesn’t seem like Kenma is bothered by the silence either. 

It makes Shouyou happy.

Sometimes conversations aren’t needed to having a good time. Just being with the person you like would be enough. 

_Platonically,_ Shouyou thinks. _Just platonically._

“Shouyou,” Kenma starts all of a sudden. 

A little startled, Shouyou nearly drops the sandwich he was holding. “Yes.”

“I like you,” Kenma blurts out, quickly stuffing his face with more apple pie. 

Shouyou frowns a little. Like… platonically, right? He puts up a smile. “I like you, too, Kenma!” He tries looking at Kenma, but his friend doesn’t look back at him. He’s sure Kenma meant it platonically, but why is he putting up a face like that?

He brushes it off.

“Do you want the last slice of apple pie?” Kenma asks instead, pointing a the last slice, but still not looking Shouyou in his eyes. 

“I’m fine with a sandwich. You can have it if you want to.” Before Shouyou was done talking, the slice had already disappeared from the case. Shouyou giggled. He knew Kenma wanted it badly.

Sitting for a few more minutes, Shouyou stretches his back. “My back and bum are becoming sore… Do you want to head back to your place?”

Kenma nods slowly. “Sure thing.”

While making their way back to Kenma’s, not much talking was done. Shouyou started getting anxious. Why didn’t they have anything to talk about? He fidgets his fingers around the hoop of the basket. If he won’t speak up about anything in a minute, he will start ruining his nails. 

“Shouyou,” Kenma then speaks. 

Shouyou looks up. “What’s up?” His heart rate was going up a little, but he couldn’t place the cause. Was it because Kenma was talking to him or just because he wanted him to speak to break the silence? He couldn’t place it.

“Are you staying over for dinner?” 

Shouyou looks at Kenma, trying to see his facial expression, but it’s still hidden from Shouyou. He bites his lip. Why isn’t Kenma showing him his face? 

“Uh, if that isn’t too much of a hassle for you, then sure thing! Do you still need to go to the grocery store or do you have everything you need?” 

“I have everything I need,” was the quick answer.

“Alright then! Yeah, I’ll be glad to stay over.” Shouyou tries to make his voice sound happy and with joy, so Kenma can hear his enthusiasm to staying over for dinner and maybe get a little happier himself. Shouyou knows Kenma likes Shouyou’s smiley expressions…

But why isn’t it doing the trick right now?

Shouyou doesn’t know, but luckily Kenma’s apartment is in sight.

“I’m excited to taste your cooking again,” Shouyou mentions as they enter Kenma’s apartment.

In the end, Shouyou cooked and Kenma sat down, playing a short game on his Switch, watching Shouyou at the same time. After dinner Shouyou tried making small talk again, but Kenma was quick to pick up his Switch again. 

Shouyou ponders whether or not he should go and sit down next to Kenma on the couch. But what much can he do in this time? 

_Maybe it’s better for me to leave, then_ , Shouyou thinks. 

“Kenma,” he starts, and Kenma looks up. “It’s late already. I better go.” He doesn’t look Kenma in the eye, not looking at Kenma at all, but his eyes are focused on his small coffee table. 

The shuffling of a body makes Shouyou look back at Kenma, who has put away his Switch and sat up straight, ready to stand up.

“Are… are you sure?”

“I think so?” He could mentally slap himself. Why did he say that with so much uncertainty? There was no reason for that. He just wants to go home. 

“We can play the Switch together? Mario Kart or something else?”

Shouyou’s heart clenches. Kenma knows Mario Kart is his favorite game.

“Fine. One round of Mario Kart and then I’m going back.” He feigns a yawn. “I’m getting pretty tired.”

“That’s alright. Cool, sit down, I’ll prepare the TV and some drinks.”

Shouyou laughs shortly. ‘Preparing the TV and some drinks’ didn’t usually mean ‘just one round’. But for what it’s worth, maybe Shouyou will feel better after it.

One round of Mario Kart turned into two, two turned into three, and three… turned into ten. Shouyou just _had_ to go and try to defeat Kenma. 

Shouyou stretches his back. “Okay,” he says with a laugh. “Now it’s _really_ time for me to go.”

“You can stay over again?” Kenma tries, but Shouyou shakes his head. He really shouldn’t. 

“I’d love to, but I promised Kageyama to do some volleyball practice with him tomorrow.” 

“Sad.”

“Sad? Not for me!”

“I mean for myself.”

“At least you can play the Switch all the time,” Shouyou mentions, his lip pulling up in a pout.

“You know I told you I can gift you a Switch whenever you would like,” Kenma comments.

Shouyou huffs. “I don’t want you to be my sugar daddy, Kenma.” 

Kenma laughs and Shouyou is enjoying his wholehearted laugh. 

As Shouyou is making his way to Kenma’s front door, Kenma is following him closely. For some reason, it is making him very nervous. 

“Thanks for dinner,” Shouyou starts, trying to start another conversation. He doesn’t really want to leave, but Kenma shrugs and is already having his hand on the doorknob, in action to close the door.

Shouyou’s eyes are set on Kenma’s hand, while standing one step outside of the door. He wants to open his mouth, but Kenma is doing the exact same thing.

Shouyou laughs, not looking Kenma in his eyes. “You can go first,” he mentions. 

“You sure?” Kenma says, looking Shouyou in his eyes. Shouyou is avoiding the piercing gaze.

“Mine isn’t urgent.” 

Urgent? Not at all. Shouyou was just in a move to say goodbye, because the silence was becoming somehow unbearable for him to stay in.

Kenma is silent for a few more seconds, a minute maybe. Shouyou is still contemplating whether or not he should pipe in and tell Kenma he’s leaving.

Then he opens his mouth.

“I like you, Shouyou.”

Shouyou’s heart stopped. Again… Kenma must have meant it platonically again, right? “Kenma-ku~n, you know I like you, too!” he says, not looking Kenma in his eyes.

“No,” says Kenma, and Shouyou looks at him questioningly. 

“No?” Shouyou repeats. “What do you mean?”

“I mean it like I mean it.” 

That is not an answer Shouyou quite understands, so he crooks his head a little, pointing more question marks at Kenma. Kenma sighs loudly, but leaves it as it is. 

“Alright, Shouyou, good night,” Kenma concludes it with, already slowly closing the door. 

Shouyou breathes out, his warm breath leaving little puffs of visible air around him in the sudden cold night air. 

“Goodnight, Kenma,” he answers, seeing the door fall close in his face. Before the door is completely closed, he also sees an expression painted on Kenma’s face that he hadn’t ever seen before. 

Hurt.

Shouyou steps inside is house and stretches his back and arms. Ugh, he’s so tired. The walk back to his house was a long and slow one, not to mention quiet. 

He throws his shoes to the side, slips into his house slippers, drops his coat on the floor because the coat hanger broke again and moves towards the bathroom.

Bath first, sleep later. 

Trying his hardest not to fall asleep in bath, he thinks about Kenma’s words again and again. 

The simple ‘ _I like you_ ’ can’t stop floating around in his mind. He can’t let the thought go. It’s in stuck.

He dips under a little, making bubbles with his mouth. Does it help him think? Maybe. Maybe not. 

Shouyou can’t help but shake the fact that Kenma’s eyes looked… different tonight. But he can’t put his finger on it. It shouldn’t be in correlation with the ‘ _I like you_ ’… should it?

The warmth of the bath is starting to frustrate him so Shouyou decides on getting out of the bathtub. The smell of the eucalyptus is clearing his nostrils and he wishes it did the same for his mind. 

He should settle for bed early. The day has been tiring and, he’s not going to lie, a little bit stressful as well. Apparently. 

Shouyou doesn’t move for a while after getting dressed. He’s just… staring. He doesn’t know at what he’s staring. His field of vision is too hazy to grasp what he’s even starting at.

The only thing that is getting him out of his trance is the sudden ring of the bell. Shouyou wants to make a quick glance at the time, but his vision is still hazy. On his way to rub his eyes, his hands are touching his cheeks. 

They’re wet.

Has he… been crying? 

But why?

The doorbell rings again. It startles Shouyou. He hurries to his kitchen to dry his eyes with a paper towel, and rushes to the front door. In a quick passing, the time tells him it has been an hour since he has come home. Before he reaches it, the doorbell rings yet another time.

“Yeah, yeah! I’m coming,” he answers, right before opening the door. 

Opening the door, being face to face with the person standing outside, Shouyou slams the door closed. 

“Kenma!” he exclaims. “What are you doing here?!”

“I need to tell you something,” Kenma sounded muffled through the closed door, but his voice was determined. 

Slowly, Shouyou opens the door again. Kenma’s all wrapped up in warm clothes. Shouyou nearly laughs at the difference of his clothes compared to this afternoon. 

“What’s up? It’s cold, do you want to come in?”

Kenma shakes his head. “I’m fine. I just need to tell you something. And I want you to listen without interrupting!” Kenma clenches his jaw. 

Shouyou nods and Kenma sees it as a sign to continue. 

“Shouyou,” he starts, breathing out his name. “I’ve known you for maybe about four months now. We have done things I hadn’t done with anyone else aside from Tetsurou, and I really didn’t know what it was at first. I did talk to Tetsurou about it, multiple times, but I didn’t believe at first.” 

He takes a deep breath. 

“What made me realize, though, was the sparkle in your eyes when you laid them on my gaming gear, when you looked at the cookies you ate that time—I still don’t know where you got them from—and the way you talk about volleyball when it’s just the two of us. The way you get excited about the littlest of things and they way you get so excited talking about your younger sibling—Sho,” he interrupts himself. His eyes wander from Shouyou’s to the floor. “I love all of that.”

Shouyou’s heart skips a beat. 

“I don’t just like it… I love it.” He shifts his eyes back up to meet Shouyou’s. He breathes in before saying, “I love you, Shouyou. I don’t just ‘like’ you—no. I _love_ you. Please acknowledge that.”

Kenma stops talking and Shouyou is staring at him. Before he was staring at something he didn’t even recognize, but he can see Kenma clearly now. 

“Say something,” Kenma whispers, his cheeks and ears turning a little pink the longer Shouyou keeps staring at him. 

Kenma groans in agony, making Shouyou get out of his endless stare. He giggles. Kenma immediately stops blushing and his face turns serious. 

The giggle might not have been the smartest thing Shouyou’s ever done.

As Shouyou is opening his mouth to speak up, a new born snowflake lands on Kenma’s nose, right from the sky. 

The two of them look startled. Shouyou nearly laughs, but the situation isn’t reading a good laugh. Kenma wipes his nose and hugs himself in his warm clothes a little more. 

“Kenma.” Shouyou then starts, doing something that needs to break the silence. “I… I don’t know what to say…”

Kenma, in response, groans loudly. “Sho! Seriously. What do you not understand about me going out of my comfort zone and confessing my undying love to you! I tried it earlier today but honestly, I didn’t know you were so fucking dense!” 

Kenma slams his hand for his mouth, not only did he sound frustrated and nearly desperate, but he also cursed. 

“Sorry,” he immediately says. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I don’t know what came up to me. I better leave. See you next time, Shouyou,” Kenma says. He buries his face in his warm-looking jacket and turns around to take his leave.

Shouyou can’t move. He wants to. But he can’t.

Shouyou wants to yell. He wants to. But he can’t.

Kenma is nearing the corner and he wants to run. Why aren’t his feet moving? 

He’s seeing Kenma leave, becoming smaller and smaller in the distance. 

Suddenly, his feet are moving, making their way over, running over the cold floor. Right—he’s not wearing shoes. 

“Kenma!” he yells. “Wai- Wait!"

Kenma was further away than Shouyou thought he would be.

He reaches Kenma and bends forward, his hands resting on his knees. He’s shivering all over, even though his quick run made him warm up fast. 

“Kenma,” he says, breathing loudly. “I’m sorry. Forgive me for the next few seconds.” 

Kenma follows Shouyou with his eyes as he is standing up. 

Shouyou takes one step closer to Kenma. He breathes in as his hands are moving up, grabbing each side of Kenma’s face. 

“I’m sorry,” he breathes again, moving his face closer to Kenma’s. The last thing he sees are Kenma’s wide open eyes before closing his own and placing his lips tight on Kenma’s. 

Five seconds. Five seconds before Shouyou catches himself and pushes himself away from Kenma. 

“Um. Sorry for that.” He sheepishly grins while placing his hand behind his neck. 

Kenma shakes his head wildly. “I’m okay,” he responds with a whisper, taking Shouyou’s hands in his. “Do you mean it?”

“Yeah,” Shouyou whispers. “I love you, too.” He swallows hard. He didn’t know it would be so hard for him to say it. To finally acknowledge it, too. He giggles. “I’m so dense.”

Kenma laughs. “You sure are.” 

Shouyou looks him in his eyes. He just loves Kenma wholehearted laugh so much.

“Let’s get you inside,” Kenma says, pointing at Shouyou’s feet and clothes. “You’re shaking and freezing. Your lips are turning blue, too. I’m taking you back to your place and make sure not to leave before you warm yourself up.”

Shouyou blushes and nods. “That would be nice.”

He takes Kenma’s hand in his and the two of them make their way back to Shouyou’s apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU FOR JOINING ME ON THIS WILD RIDE.
> 
> whispering into the night has come to an end. I want to thank everyone who left comments and waited patiently for the delay in updates!! <3

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! please leave kudos and a **comment** , it will help me as an author greatly :) 
> 
> follow me on twitter @shiinras where i sometimes post short one-shots too !!  
> i also made a tumblr for people who are more active on tumblr!!! it's loneveenas


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